MCP (Model Context Protocol): If You Don't Know… Now You Know!

[Sarwesh]

Connect AI to your favorite apps as easily as plugging in a USB-C cable

That’s exactly the vibe of MCP-the Model Context Protocol.

What’s MCP?

Think of MCP as a universal translator for AI. It’s an open protocol that lets LLMs like Claude or ChatGPT securely plug into your Google Drive, Slack, codebase, or even your local fileswithout custom code.

No more “Sorry, I can’t access that” error!

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What's different?

• AI chats are no longer limited to question answers and web search.
• MCP lets AI interact with the real-world, making it more useful than ever before.
• Now it can book your flights, order food and send messages without AI developers breaking a sweat.

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How does it work? (without nerd speak)

1. MCP Servers = Mini apps that safely expose tools/data (“Food database, Share Market data, Slack Actions”)
2. MCP Clients = AI apps like Claude that use those tools (“Book appointment with Kiran for next week”)
3. You = The boss who just automated 10% of their workday

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Cool Stuff People Are Building

1. GitHub MCP server: Turns natural language commands like “list my open pull requests” into GitHub API calls, enabling AI to interact with code repositories seamlessly.
2. File MCP server: Allows saving AI-generated content directly to your desktop as text files, such as saving summaries or notes.
3. YouTube MCP server: Transcribes video links on demand, letting AI fetch and process video transcripts automatically.
4. Personalized Learning Platforms: Tracks student progress, preferences, and knowledge gaps to tailor exercises and recommendations dynamically, enhancing adaptive learning experiences.
5. Healthcare Diagnostics Tools: Coordinates patient records, real-time vitals, and medical history during telemedicine consultations to provide clinicians with relevant data instantly.
6. Zapier MCP integration: Connects AI to over 8,000 apps and 30,000+ actions, allowing AI agents to perform tasks like sending emails, managing calendars, updating CRM records, and more-all through one unified MCP endpoint.
7. Slack MCP server: Enables AI to read/write messages, add reactions, and retrieve channel history in Slack workspaces, facilitating conversational automation.

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So next time someone drops “MCP” in a convo, you’ll know: it’s the USB-C of the AI world, making everything connect and play nice together.

If you didn’t know, now you know!

Readings

1. https://www.anthropic.com/news/model-context-protocol
2. https://blog.cloudflare.com/remote-model-context-protocol-servers-mcp/
3. https://zapier.com/blog/mcp/
4. https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/25/24305774/anthropic-model-context-protocol-data-sources
5. https://zapier.com/blog/zapier-mcp-guide/